Forest Corporation Act

उत्तर प्रदेश असाधारण गजट

उत्तर प्रदेश असाधारण गजट,13 मार्च, 1975

No. 896 (2) /XVII-V-1-85-74

Dated Lucknow, March 13, 1975

In pursuance of the provisions of clause (3) of Article 348 of the Constitution of India, the Governor is pleased to order the publication of the following English translation of the Uttar Pradesh Van Nigam Adhiniyam (Uttar Pradesh Adhiniyam Sankhya 4 of 1975), as passed by the Uttar Pradesh Legislature and assented to by the Governor on March 6, 1975:

The Uttar Pradesh Forest Corporation Act, 1974

(U.P. Act No. 4 of 1975)
(As passed by the Uttar Pradesh Legislature)
AN
ACT
It is hereby enacted in the Twenty-fifth year of the Republic of India as follows :--

CHAPTER I

Preliminary

This Act may be called the Uttar Pradesh Forest Corporation Act , 1974.

It extends to the whole of Uttar Pradesh.

It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by Notification in the Gazette, appoint in this behalf.

“Managing Director” means the Managing Director of the Corporation appointed under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 40;

“prescribed” means prescribed under rules made under this Act;

“regulations” means regulations under rules made under this Act;

“State Government” means the Government of Uttar Pradesh.

Short Title, extent and commencement

Definitions

CHAPTER – II

Establishment and Constitution of the Corporation

The State Government shall, by notification in the Gazette and with effect from a date to be specified therein, constitute a Corporation by the name of Uttar Pradesh Forest Corporation.

The Corporation shall be a body corporate having perpetual succession and a common seal and may sue and be sued in its corporate name and shall have the power to acquire, hold and dispose of property for the purpose of this Act.

The Corporation shall for all purposes be a local authority.

The Corporation shall have its head office at Lucknow and may have offices at such other places as it may consider necessary.

The Corporation shall consist of a Chairman, to be appointed by the State Government and the following other members, namely :

five members to be appointed by the State Government from amongst the officers serving under it, one of whom shall be appointed as the Managing Director of the Corporation; and

not more than three non-official members to be appointed by the State Government from amongst the persons who in its opinion possess experience in maters relating to preservation and development of forests.

The appointment of the Chairman and other members shall be notified in the Gazette.

A person shall be disqualified to be appointed as, and for being the Chairman or other member of the Corporation, if he-

has been convicted of an offence which in the opinion of the State Government involved moral turpitude; or

is an undischarged insolvent; or

is physically or mentally incapable of acting as such member; or

in the opinion of the State Government has failed to act or has become incapable of acting in the best interests of the Corporation or has so abused his position as the Chairman or other member, as to render his continuance as such detrimental to the interests of the Corporation or the general public; or

has directly or indirectly by himself or by any partner, employer or employee has any share or interest, whether pecuniary or of any other nature, in any contract or employment, with, by, or on behalf of the Corporation; or

is a director, secretary, manager or other officer of any company which has any share or interest in any contract or employment with by ,or on behalf of the Corporation :
Provided that a person shall not be disqualified under clause (e) or clause (f) by reason only of his or the company in which he is a director, secretary, Manger or other officer having a share or interest in -

any sale, purchase, lease or exchange of immovable property or any agreement for the same;

any agreement for loan of money, or any security for payment or money only;

any newspaper in which any advertisement relating to the affairs of the Corporation is published;

an occasional sale to the Corporation upto a value not exceeding ten thousand rupees in any year, of any article in which he or his company regularly trades .

Explanation – A person shall not be deemed to have to any share or interest in any contract or employment with, by or on behalf of the Corporation by reason only of his being a share-holder of the company which has such share of interest.

The term of the office of the Chairman, if he is not an officer serving under the State Government, or of a non-official member of the Corporation shall be three years unless it is determined earlier by the State Government by notification in the Gazette.

The Chairman or a non-official member of the Corporation may at any time, by writing under has hand addressed to the State Government, resign his office and on such resignation being accepted, he shall be deemed to have vacated his office.

If the Chairman or any non-official member is , by infirmity or otherwise, rendered temporarily incapable of carrying his duty or is absent otherwise, in circumstances not involving the vacation of his appointment, the State Government may appoint another person to officiate for him and to carry out his functions under this Act.

A casual vacancy created by the resignation of the Chairman or any non-official member under sub-section (2) of section 6 or for any other reason shall be filled by fresh appointment and the Chairman or non-official members so appointed shall hold office for the remainder of the term of the Chairman or, as the case may be, for the non-official member in whose place he is so appointed.

The Corporation may appoint such employees as it considers necessary for the efficient performance of his function under this Act :
Provided that the appointment of such employees as the State Government may, by general or special order, specify, shall be made in consultation with the Public Service Commission, Uttar Pradesh or with the approval of the State Government, as the State Government may direct.

The Corporation may, with the previous approval of the State Government, appoint an employee of the Central Government or the State Government or local body on such terms and conditions as may agreed upon.

The Chairman and the non-official members shall be entitled to draw such traveling and daily allowances from the fund of the Corporation as may be determined by regulations.

The Managing Director and other employees of the Corporation shall be entitled to receive from the fund of the Corporation such salaries and allowances and shall be governed by such conditions of service as may be determined by the regulations.

Subject to superintendence of the Corporation, the general control over the employees of the Corporation shall be vested in the Managing Director.

The Corporation shall meet at such times and places and shall observe such procedure in regard to the transaction of business in its meeting as may be determined by regulations.

The Chairman or in his absence, a member of the Corporation elected by the members present from amongst themselves, shall preside the meeting of the Corporation.

All questions at the meetings of the Corporation shall be decided by majority of votes of the members present and voting and the case of equality of votes, the Chairman ,or in his absence the member presiding, shall have second or casting vote.

The Chairman may invite any person to attend a meeting of the Corporation for the purpose of assisting or advising it on any matter and the person so invited may take part in the discussions of the Corporation but shall have no right of vote.

A member who is directly or indirectly concer­ned or interested in any contract, loan, arrangement or proposal ,entered into or proposed to be entered into by or on behalf of the Corporation shall at the earliest possible opportunity disclose the nature of his interest to the Corporation and shall not be present at any meeting thereof when any such contract, loan, arrangement or proposal is discussed unless his presence is required by other members for the purpose of eliciting information, and no member so required to be present shall vote on any such contract, loan, arrangement or proposal.

No act done or proceedings taken under this Act, by the Corporation shall be deemed to be invalid by reason merely of any vacancy or defect in the constitution of the Corporation.

Establishment of the Corporation.

Constitution of the Corporation .

Disqualifications for being Chairman or other member.

Terms of Office Of the Chairman or non-official members.

CHAPTER – III

Functions And Powers Of The Corporation

Subject to the provisions of this Act, and to any general or special directions of the State Government, the functions of the Corporation shall be following, namely :

to undertake removal and disposal of trees and exploitation of forest resources entrusted to it by the State Government;

to prepare projects relating to forestry within the State;

to undertake research programmes relating to forest and forest products and render technical advice to State Government on matters relating to forestry;

to manage, maintain and develop such forests as are transferred or entrusted to it by the State Government;

to perform such functions as the State Government may from time to time require.

The Corporation shall ,subject to the provision of this Act, have power to do anything which I may be necessary or expedient for carrying out its functions under this Act.

without prejudice to the generality of the for­egoing provision, such power shall include the power

to set up workshops or factories for processing forest raw materials;­

to establish maintain and operate laboratories and experimental and research stations;

­to enter into such contract or arrangement with any person as the Corporation may deem necessary for performing its functions under this Act;

to borrow money, issue debentures and manage its fund;

to incur expenditure and grant loans and Advances to such persons as the Corporation may deem necessary for performing its functions under this Act.

The Corporation may undertake the execution of any afforestation project at the request of the State Government or, with the previous approval of the State Government, at the request of any other person on such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon.

CHAPTER – IV

Finance, Accounts and Audit

The Corporation shall have its own fund which shall be a
local fund and to which shall be cre­dited all money received by or
on behalf of the Corporation.

The fund shall, be applied
towards meeting expenses incurred by the Corporation in the
discharge of its functions under this Act and for no other
purpose.

The money of the Fund shall be
kept in the State Bank of India or in the Uttar Pradesh
Co-opera­tive Bank or in any Scheduled Bank:

Provided that nothing in this
sub-section shall be deemed to preclude the Corporation from
retaining such balance in case as may be necessary for current
payment or from investing any portion of the fund not required for
immediate expenditure in any of the securities described in section
20 of the India Trust Act ,1882.

The Corporation may from time to time, with the previous
sanction of the State Government and subject to the provisions of
this Act and to such conditions as the State Government may be
general or special order determine, borrow any sum required for the
purposes of this Act ,whether by the issue of bonds or stocks or
otherwise or by making arrange­ment with bankers.

Stock issued by the Corporation
under this section shall be issued, transferred, dealt with
and redeemed in such manner as the State Government may by, general
or special order, direct.

The State Government may, after due appro­priation by law of
the State Legislature, from time to time make subventions to the
Corporation for the purpose of this Act on such terms and conditions
as the State Government may determine.

The Corporation shall, for the purpose of re-payment of
any loan raised by it establish a Sinking Fund in such manner as may
by prescribed.

The Sinking Fund shall be
maintained, invested and applied in such manner as may be
prescribed.

The Corporation shall prepare, in such form and at such time
every year at the State Government may direct, budget in respect of
the financial year next ensuing, showing the estimated receipts and
expenditure of the Corporation.

The Corporation shall maintain proper accounts and
prepare an annual statement of accounts including balance-sheet in
such form as the State Government may direct.

The accounts of the Corporation
shall be sub­ject to audit annually by the Examiner, Local Fund
Accounts and any expenditure incurred by him in connection with such
audit shall be payable by the Corporation to the Examiner, local
Fund Accounts.

The Examiner, Local Fund Accounts
or any person authorised by him in connection with the audit of
accounts of the Corporation shall have the same rights, privileges
and authority in connection with such audit as the Examiner, Local
Fund Accounts has in connection with the audit of the accounts of a
local body and, in particular, shall have right to demand the
production of books, accounts, connected vouchers and other document
and papers and to inspect the office of the Corporation.

The accounts of the Corporation
as certified by the Examiner, Local Fund Accounts or any person
authorised by him in that behalf together with the audit report
thereof shall be forwarded annually to the State Government.

The State Government Shall­

cause the accounts of the
Corporation, to­gether with the audit report thereon, received by it
under sub-section (4) to be laid annually before each House of the
State Legislature, and

cause the accounts of the
Corporation to be published in the prescribed manner and make
available copies thereof for sale at a reasonable

The Chairman, the Managing Director or any other member
or any employee of the Corporation shall be liable to surcharge for
the loss, waste or misapplication of any money or property of the
Corporation if such loss, waste or misapplication is a direct
consequence of his neglect or misconduct while acting as such
Chairman. Managing Director or other member or employee.

The procedure of surcharge
shall be such as may be prescribed.

Any amount found to be
involved in any such Loss, waste or misapplication as a result
of proceedings for surcharge shall be recoverable as arrears of land
revenue.

Nothing in sub-section (3) shall
prevent the Corporation from deducting any amount referred to
therein from any sum payable by the Corporation to Chairman,
Managing Director or other member or employee. as the case may be.

CHAPTER –V

External Control

In the discharge of its functions under this Act, the
Corporation shall be guided by such directions on question of policy
as may be given to it by the State Government.

If any question arises whether
any matter is or is not a matter as respects which the State
Govern­ment may issue a direction under Sub-section (1), the
decision of the State Government thereon shall be final.

The Corporation shall. as soon as may be after the end
of each financial year, prepare and submit to the State Government
before such date and in such form as the State Government may
direct, a report giving an account of its activities during the
pre­vious financial year, and such report shall also give an account
of the activities, if any, which are likely to be undertaken
by Corporation in the next financial year and the State Government
shall cause such report to be laid before each House of the State
Legislature, as soon as may be, after it is received by the State
Government.

The Corporation shall furnish to
the State Government at such times and in such form and manner as
the State Government may direct such statistics and returns and such
particulars in regard to any proposed or existing activities of the
Corporation or any other matter under the control of the Corporation
as the State Government may from time to time require.

CHAPTER –VI

Miscellaneous

Every local body shall render such assistance and furnish
such information to the Corporation and make available for its
inspection and examination such records, maps, plans and other
documents as it may require in connection with the performance of
its functions under this Act.

Notwithstanding anything
contained in any other law for the time being in force, the State
Government may give to any local body such direct­ions as in its
opinion are necessary or expedient for enabling the Corporation to
perform its functions under this Act and there upon it shall be the
duty of the local body to comply with such directions.

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie
against the State Government or the Corporation or the Chairman or
the Managing Director or any other member thereof or any employee of
the State Government or the Corporation for anything which is in
good faith done or intended to be done under this Act or any rule
made thereunder.

Chairman, Managing Director or other member and employees
of the Corporation shall be deemed, while acting or purporting
to act in pursuance of any of the provisions of this Act to be
public servants within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal
Code.

All proceedings of the Corporation shall be authenticated
by the Signature of the Chairman or as the case may be, of the
member presiding in the meeting of the Corporation in the absence of
the Chairman, and all orders and other instruments issued by the
Corporation shall be authenticated by the signature of such employee
of the Corporation as may be authorised by it in this behalf.

Subject to the provisions of this Act and the rules
made thereunder the State Government may by general or special order
delegate either unconditio­nally or subject to such conditions
including the condition of review by itself, as may be specified in
the order to the Corporation such of its powers and duties under the
Indian Forest Act, 1927 or any other law for the time being in
force, as it may deem necessary.

Subject to the provision of this
Act and the rules made thereunder the Corporation may be general or
special order, delgate either unconditionally or subject to such
conditions, including the condition of review by itself, as may be
specified in the order, to the Chairman or the Managing Director or
any other member or employee of the Corporation such of its powers
and duties not being the powers and duties delegated to it under
sub-section (1), as it may deem necessary.

The State Government may invest the Mana­ging Director or
and employee of the Corporation with all or any of the powers
of a Forest Officer under section 72 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927,
and the Managing Director or such employee in relation to such
powers shall be deemed to be a Forest Officer within the meaning of
clause (2) of section 2 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927.

The State Government may, by notifica­tion in the Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

In particular, and without
prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power , such rules may
pro­vide of all or any of the following matters, namely :--

the manner in which the Sinking
Fund shall be established, maintained, invested and applied under
Section 21;

the procedure in respect of
surcharge under section 24 including the provision of appeal, if
any, in respect thereof;

any other matter which has to be
or may be, prescribed.

All rules made under this Act
shall as soon as may be after they are made be laid before each
House of the State Legislature while it is in session for a total
period of not less than thirty days extending in its one session or
more than one successive sessions, and shall unless later date is
appointed take effect from the date of their publication in the Gazette sub­ject to such modifications or annulments as the two
Houses of the Legislature may, during the said period, agree to
make, so however than any such modifica­tions or annulments shall be
without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done
thereunder.

The Corporation may, with the previous approval of the State Government make regulations not inconsistent with this Act and the rules made thereunder for the administration of the Corporation.

In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such regulations may provided for or any of the following matters, namely :

salaries and allowances and conditions of service of the Managing Director and employees of the Corporation and traveling and daily allowances to be paid to the Chairman and non-official members;

times and places of, and the procedure in regard to the transaction of business in, the meetings of the Corporation;

any other matter which has to be
or may be, prescribed.

any other matter for which provision is to be or may be made in the regulations.

Until any regulations are made by the Corporation under sub-section (1) any regulations which may be so made by it, may be made by the State Government, and any regulations so made may be altered or rescinded by the Corporation in exercise of its power under sub-section(1).

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